April proved to be a relatively brisk month for moves and departures in the Asian wealth management industry, as this summary shows.

Australia

MLC Community Foundation, the philanthropy unit of National Australia Bank wealth management arm MLC, named Lara Bourguignon as its new chairperson, after serving as general manager of MLC Group Insurance and managing director of Plum Financial Services. She joined the company in 1999. She took over from Andrew Howard, who has held the position since May 2008. Howard continues on his role as general manager for distribution and client management at NAB Asset Management.  

John Macfarlane is set to join the ANZ board on 22 May 2014, following a decision by Peter Hay to retire. Macfarlane most recently served as chairman and chief executive of Deutsche Bank Australia and New Zealand. He will stand for election as a director at the firm's annual general meeting on December 2014.

National Australia Bank announced the retirement of group chief executive and managing director Cameron Clyne in August 2014. Clyne has been in this position since January 2009 and said he is stepping down to focus on his family. He will be replaced by Andrew Thorburn effective 1 August, who will also be invited to join the NAB board. This appointment is still subject to regulatory approvals.

Global asset management firm Legg Mason named Colin Mason as director for sales for the Melbourne office. Taylor was previously the vice president for institutional business at JP Morgan. Prior to that, he worked for 11 years at UBS in London.

ANZ announced the departure of chief information officer Anne Weatherston after four years in the role, without citing specific reasons. Her post has been assumed in the interim by Alistair Currie, the group chief operating officer, until a replacement is identified.

Wilson HTM Investment Group named Sandy Grant as its new managing director to replace Andrew Coppin, who resigned in 2013. Grant has been acting chief executive officer since 2 July 2013 and will retain her role as director of Pinnacle Investment Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WIG. His appointment is for a fixed term until 30 June 2015.

UK investment manager Winton Capital appointed Andrew Grimes from Platinum Asset Management in Australia to lead its newly-opened office in Sydney. Before Winton, Grimes was a consultant at Watson Wyatt, now Towers Watson, also worked at Schroders Investment Management and McKinsey & Co in the UK.

Australian financial services group Perpetual Investments named Michael O'Dea as head of diversified strategies, with effect at the end of May 2014. In this role, he is responsible for leading the team's wholesale balanced, diversified and conservative growth strategies, with a focus on client centric products and funds growth. He joined from JANA, where he worked for 13 years.

China
Westpac announced the appointment of Simon Israel as non-executive member to its Asia advisory board. Israel is the Asia business leader and current chairman of SingTel. He is the second non-executive member to the board and joins Hwee Hua Lim who was appointed in November 2013.

Dr Jun Ma, the chief economist for Greater China at Deutsche Bank, left the company after thirteen years in service. Ma leaves his post to join the People's Bank of China as chief economist in its research bureau. This is a newly created post.

Wang Yongli, a vice-president and executive director of Hong Kong-listed Bank of China, resigned from the bank. The VP had had worked at the bank for 25 years and been a vice-president for more than seven years. Reports said he resigned after he was investigated and subsequently cleared of suspicion of corruption by the Communist Party's top disciplinary body.

KKR Capstone, the executive team that works in partnership with US investment firm KKR, announced the appointment of Matthew Chang as managing director in China, after serving as global senior partner for the Asian operations and restructuring practises of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Shanghai. In his new role, Chang will lead the group's engagement with KKR's portfolio companies in the country.

Hong Kong
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management named Ken Tam to the newly-created role of head of global client group, institutional, for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. He joined from JP Morgan Asset Management ad now reports regionally to Ravi Raju, head of DeAWM Asia-Pacific, and functionally to Dario Schiraldi, head of GCG. Also appointed was Rajan Raju as head of GCG, intermediaries, for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. He joined Deutsche Bank Group in 2010 from DBS Bank and is based in Singapore, reporting regionally to Ravi Raju and functionally to Dario Schiraldi.

Mizuho Securities Asia announced the appointments of Kentaro Akashi as chairman of the firm and Seiichiro Miyaoka as president and chief executive. Akashi has been with the company for 30 years and has held various senior positions within the Mizuho Group in Japan and the US. Miyaoka joined Mizuho in February 2013 and in May of the same year relocated to Hong Kong and was named deputy president of Mizuho Securities Asia. Both are based in Hong Kong. Also newly appointed is Paul Andersson as regional head of equities for Asia ex-Japan in Hong Kong.

Private Wealth Management Association, the Hong Kong-based voluntary association of private wealth management firms, announced James Hong as its new head, to succeed Nancy Cheung. Hong has held a number of senior management positions, most recently as head of private banking Hong Kong at Credit Suisse.

International law firm Withers named Samantha Gershon as a consultant at its Hong Kong office, after serving as a partner at Robertsons, where she specialised in complex commercial litigation, public and administrative law.

Philip Witherington joined Manulife Financial as senior vice president and chief financial officer for the Asia division. He most recently served as head of finance for the retail banking and wealth management global business in Asia-Pacific of HSBC. In his new post, he reports dually to Steve Roder, senior EVP and chief financial officer for Manulife Financial, and Robert Cook, senior EVP and general manager for Asia.

BlackRock announcd that effective 1 June, Ryan Stork will transfer to Hong Kong from New York to assume his new post. He has served a variety of leadership roles at the firm in the past 13 years. At the end of 2014, Stork is also due to assume the chairman role. Also appointed was Mark McCombe as global head of institutional client business and chairman of BlackRock Alternative Investors in New York. He is currently the Asia-Pacific chairman and will continue to be so until Stork takes over, to facilitate a smooth transition.

Royal Bank of Scotland appointed Pierre Ferland as head of corporate and institutional banking for Asia-Pacific, with effect from 1 May 2014. He was previously the co-head of markets and international banking for Asia-Pacific. In his new role, He will join the C&I leadership team, which is led by Donald Workman, executive chairman for C&I, who was formerly the executive chairman for RBS Asia-Pacific.

Stockholm-based investment firm East Capital named Sebastien Gandon to the Hong Kong team as a senior account manager. He moved from the company's European operation, where he managed, out of the Paris office, relationships with private banks, multimanagers, institutions and family offices in a number of countries.

Grant Ko, who has held the role of cluster head for Taiwan at UBS’ wealth management division, has left the Swiss bank. Ko’s future plans are unknown.

Old Mutual Global Investors named Iris Tsui as senior sales manager. Tsui joined from E Fund Management where she was responsible for business development through intermediaries and institutional clients. Tsui reports to Kylie Chan, who joined the firm in December 2013 as head of sales for Asia, from BNP Paribas Investment Partners in Hong Kong.

UBS Wealth Management appointed Amy Lo as chief executive of wealth management for Hong Kong, taking over from Allen Lo, who has retired from the post. She continues to report to Kathryn Shih, CEO of UBS Wealth Management, Asia Pacific. Allen Lo retires after a 37-year career in wealth management, including 17 years at UBS. In the coming months he will continue to support the business as an advisor.

Kinetic Partners made two promotions in its Hong Kong team. AnnMarie Croswell has been promoted to member and Katrina Banh to associate director within Kinetic Partners regulatory compliance team in the jurisdiction.

BNY Mellon Investment Management named veteran financial journalist Simon Cox, from The Economist, as its investment strategist for Asia-Pacific. While with the publication, he reported from over 20 countries and covered the IMF and World Bank from London, before moving to Delhi to write about South Asia and the Gulf. He has spent the past four years in Hong Kong concentrating on China's economy. He reports to Jack Malvey, chief global market strategist for investment management in New York.

The head of the Hong Kong business at Societe Generale’s private bank, Alex Fung, left the French banking group, citing "personal rasons." Fung has held the position since 2006. The company is still looking for his replacement. Meanwhile, Olivier Gougeon, Regional CEO of Societe Generale Private Banking, Asia Pacific has taken over.

Bermuda-headquartered financial services group Clarien Group rebranded its banking arm to cater to more high net worth clients in Asia and named Zoran Flotak and Ian Truran, co-chief executives who are both founders of Clarien Group, to take the lead. Fotak has held senior positions within Credit Suisse Securities, Merill Lynch, the Royal Bank of Canada and St George Asset Management. Truran is a Bermudian national with extensive experience in the local and international banking industry and formerly worked at Butterfield Bank.

First State Investments created new senior positions for its Asian offices. Vivian Tang was named director for the institutional business in North Asia based in Hong Kong, while Lauren Prendiville joined as director for the institutional business in South East Asia based in Singapore. Tang was previously a director for distribution at Credit Suisse Asset Management. Prendiville ran a Singapore-based consulting firm Investment Marketing Solutions, which she co-founded. Both report to Alexis Ng, managing director for South East Asia and head of distribution for Asia.

UK investment management firm TT International announced two appointments to its senior investment team in Asia. Marco Li joined as senior investment analyst and head of Australian equities, with responsibility over Australia, New Zealand and Greater China, while Duncan Robertson stepped in as senior investment analyst and portfolio manager for the Asia research platform in Hong Kong, covering Korea and ASEAN markets. Li has been part of the company since November 2013. Robertson was previously a senior portfolio manager for Asia at the University Superannuation Scheme in the UK.

India
India Infoline Asset Management named Prashasta Seth as chief executive, to replace Gopinath Natarajan, who has been appointed as the head of equity advisory services at the parent firm. Seth has been with the company for the past six years, managing and advising pooled assets and client portfolios, particularly on investment strategies, generating stock ideas and creating research reports.

Sheffield Haworth, the executive search firm operating in wealth management, announced that the founder and chairman of its India business, Deepak Verma, is relocating to the US as part of a drive to link business opportunities between the countries. Verma, who is also vice chairman, Americas, will work with Sheffield Haworth’s multinational clients across retail financial services & insurance. He is moving to New York.

Japan
Mizuho Financial Group announced changes to its board of directors lineup. These include Yukio Machida and Eiji Ogawa joining as directors of Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Trust respectively, and the retirement of Tatsuo Kainaka effective late June 2014. Several other appointments and departures were also revealed in time for the April 25 AGM.

Singapore
Temenos, the technology solutions provider that caters to the financial services industry, named Martin Frick as head for its Asia-Pacific operations. He has served as senior executive of Raiffeisen Bank in Switzerland, as well as executive director and head of custody processing service at UBS. More recently, he has been working in banking technology and was previously managing director of Asia-Pacific at Avaloq.

Sumit Puri, a former executive director at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management, was appointed to the global Indian team of Citi Private Bank in Singapore. His move to Citigroup represents a return to the US-headquartered business. He worked at Goldman from March 2011; at Citi, he had worked there from 2008 for three years, according to his Linkedin profile.

Standard Chartered Bank appointed Singaporean Lim Cheng Teck as chief executive for its ASEAN markets. Lim was previously CEO and executive vice chairman of Standard Chartered Bank (China); prior to this, he was CEO of the bank in Singapore. He reports to the UK-listed bank’s CEO for Asia, Jaspal Bindra.

Australia and New Zealand Bank named Sameer Sawhney, currently the managing director of global transaction banking, as the head of global banking, international and institutional banking. In the interim, Sawhney's previous role is assumed by Alan Huse, head of transaction banking sales for Australia and New Zealand, until a permanent replacement is named.

Singapore-headquartered DBS Bank appointed Neal Cross as managing director and chief innovation officer, technology and operations. Cross joined from MasterCard, where he was responsible for driving innovation as vice president of MasterCard Labs in the company’s Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions. A spokesperson for DBS told this publication that Steve Monaghan had been the previous chief innovation officer at the firm but gave few other details about Monaghan's plans.

Morrison & Foerster expanded its Asian private equity practice with the appointment of Shirin Tang as corporate partner based in Singapore. Tang stepped in from Shearman & Sterling, where she led a range of cross-border transactions and worked in the firm's New York office for almost six years.

Morrison & Foerster, the international law firm that caters to financial services firms, appointed Shirin Tang as a corporate partner in Singapore. Tang stepped in from Shearman & Sterling, where she led a range of cross-border transactions and worked in the firm's New York office for almost six years.

Mercer named Dion Groeneweg as partner, HR transformation and workforce planning leader for Asia, Middle East, African and Latin America. This role was expanded recently to include Africa and Latin America. Groeneweg previously led his own company, The Cape Group, in Singapore. He reports to Susan Haberman, talent business leader for growth markets.